to tell us what they're going to do. will romney show us his vision? or will obama inspire the country with teases of what's to come? and finally, newsman, he's seen a half century of presidencies. if someone like truman, ike and ford were deeply rooted, what about the stranger sorts like lyndon johnson and nixon? how did they get there. we'll ask the man himself. dan rather. hi, i'm chris matthews. with us today hd nets dan rather. katty kay, nbc's kelly o do nell and anne cline. barack obama's trip to afghanistan signing that agreement to partner until 2024 was enormous. republicans applauded, taking the issue off the table. friday's job report with a slight drop in the unemployment rate but disappointing figures in news job. dan, the president can't win on foreign policy, people say. so this election is going to be about the economy. >> absolutely. within the job, what people say is true. unless we're in a new war, if mitt romney can make it all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and stay on message, obama could lose it. chris: let me go to katty on this one. everybody reads this guy. he's the